Persimmon Spice Cake – Gluten Free!

Persimmons are not a common fruit around these parts. Many people think they look like tomatoes and have no idea how or when to eat them. Lucky for me, growing up in Brazil, persimmons (or caqui, as they are known there) are everywhere. I know how they taste, and I also know that you must eat them when they are mushy, spotty and look like you want to throw them away. That’s when they are the sweetest.

Persimmons have a very sweet taste, almost like a mix between a tomato, papaya, and pear. That’s the best description I can give. When they are ripe, the peel is hard on the outside, but the inside should be dark orange and mushy. The fruit all around should feel like a soft tomato.

I was at the farmer’s market and noticed that persimmons were in season. I thought well, I wonder if I could make a nice cake or ice cream with it. So after talking to the lady at the stand, she gave me a couple pieces of advice for a cake, and off I went to create my persimmon cake!

This recipe is actually great as a sweet breakfast bread as well, not only as a cake. However, I highly recommend the cake version with the lemon icing! The mix of the tangy lemon icing with the sweet cake is something that should not be ignored!

So without further ado…let us begin!

You will need:

1.5 cups gluten-free flour
1 cup persimmon pulp (about 5 to 6 persimmons)
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp nutmeg

For the icing you will need:

1 cup confectioner’s sugar
juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon

Step 1:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Scoop out the insides of the persimmons and place into a bowl. Make sure you don’t add any peel in as it’s harder and more bitter. Do not blend the pulp, leave it chunky, as this allows for bits of the fruit to bake into the cake.

In a large bowl, add the melted butter (make sure it’s cooled), the eggs, persimmon pulp, sugar, and vanilla. Mix all together, but be sure not to whip or beat so you do not fully blend the pulp together.

Step 2:

In a smaller bowl, add all the dry ingredients together, then add to the larger bowl. Mix everything together just enough to where it is blended.

Take out your cake pan, it can be a bread pan, square pan or round. Grease the pan then add the cake batter in.

Place the cake in the oven and cook for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Step 3:

In a small bowl, mix together the confectioner’s sugar and lemon juice and set aside.

Step 4:

When the cake is done, take out to cool. Once it is cool, generously drizzle the lemon icing on top of the cake. Serve immediately, or put in the fridge for the icing to harden on the cake.